Dozens of former foreign students from a private Montreal college under the microscope of Quebec affirm that their permanent residence file was put on hold due to allegations of possible fraud concerning internships. Faced with the radio silence of the authorities whom they have contacted tirelessly for months, they are in great distress as they fear losing their status.
In recent months, the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) interviewed 93 graduates of the College Supérieur de Montréal (CSM) to verify the validity of the information relating to their studies and their internships provided in their application for a Quebec selection certificate. The Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit has also met and questioned several students and members of the college administration in recent weeks as part of an investigation surrounding this college, we learned. Duty (see other text).
Mental health problems, anxiety attacks, taking sleeping pills and antidepressants. Whether they were met by the MIFI or not, the fifteen graduates who confided in the Duty expressed their distress, seeing that their permanent residence file is stagnating and that their temporary residence permit will expire. Some fear not being able to provide for their children, others have put their plans to have children on hold.
A graduate of the CSM in medical secretarial work, Zakaria El Khadiri submitted his application for permanent residency in the fall of 2024, a year and a half ago. He remembers it, it was at the same time as his roommate. Except that the latter, who studied in another private college, has already obtained his permanent residence. “I didn’t even receive the acknowledgment of receipt,” laments Mr. El Khadiri.
However, what shocks this young man the most, who will graduate in 2023, is the radio silence of the authorities whom he has tried to contact on numerous occasions. “The hardest part is that we have no feedback, we have no explanations. They just leave us like this. It’s really stressful.” The Moroccan of origin believes he was not treated fairly, in particular because he was not summoned by the MIFI to have the chance to explain himself. “Because I know there are people who passed the interview and then their file moved forward,” he says. “So why did they have the opportunity to spend [en entrevue]while we didn’t have the opportunity to do it?
Unquiet radio silence
In Quebec for six years, Hicham El Masfioui, graduating in 2023, is particularly stressed: he has no news of his permanent residence file, while his work permit expires next July. “We can’t travel. We can’t do anything. It’s like a prison here. I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life now.”
Without acknowledgment of receipt for a file submitted in October 2024, Isabel Cristina Santibanez says, like the fifteen former students interviewed by Dutyhaving knocked on every door to ask for explanations. “I tried with MPs, I tried with IRCC, where I called more than once, I sent webformsI had a lawyer who asked questions for me. I contacted MIFI…nothing. It’s as if we don’t have anyone to help us,” says the Colombian native, who graduated from CSM in 2023.
Neither MIFI nor Immigration Canada reported any problems with his file. “The most frustrating thing is that when you call, no one says there is a problem. The provincial government says “no, it’s a delay by the federal government†. But the federal government says nothing,” says the trained engineer.
This mother, who says she has already spent $30,000 on recruitment, studies and immigration procedures, deplores the fact that her life is completely blocked. “I would like, for example, to buy a house. I can’t. And no bank is going to lend me money either. So, for five years, I have had no life. I live half.”
Asked by DutyImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) did not comment on the deadlines, nor did it confirm that Quebec had asked it to suspend the processing of the files of former CSM students in connection with possible fraud.
